Pathologists routinely use microscopes to assess patterns in tissue samples on glass slides. The assessment of these patterns, which may indicate the presence or aggressiveness of malignancies for example, is often critical to the diagnosis of disease in humans and animals. Because human observers conduct such assessments, they are subjective. Subjectivity in diagnosis can lead to misdiagnosis, which negatively impact patients, care providers, and payers.
Specialized instruments called whole-slide scanners can capture an image of the tissue sample on a glass slide that has resolution and clarity equivalent to that provided by a microscope. Whole slide scanners output whole-slide images that can be viewed on a computer workstation and analyzed by software. Image analysis software promises to reduce or eliminate subjectivity in diagnosis. However, due to their large size (ranging from hundreds of megabytes to dozens of gigabytes), whole slide images are not trivial for computer systems to manipulate and analyze. Thus, computer processing of whole slide images in acceptable time frames remains a long-standing problem in the art.